Various types of baby seat compartments having hingeable backrests or gates are known for securement to the rear portion of the elevated frame of an over-the-counter shopping cart, and such is for example disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,682,782; 4,875,695; and 4,423,887 and its reissue RE 32,453. The present invention is an improved hinge gate design which substantially overcomes some of the disadvantages and inconveniences of known hinge gate designs of the type exemplified by the above-referenced patents. One disadvantage of these designs is that the hinge for the gate is located above the baby seat bottom wall or the lading-carrying basket bottom wall, and this can lead to damage to the clothing of a child seated in the baby seat, or the child, or to articles disposed on the baby seat. Also, the hinge rods of these gates usually have a stud end which extends outwardly of the side walls of the compartment which can also catch articles of clothing of a person in close proximity to this side wall.
The hinge connection of some of these gates are also slidingly captive in brackets secured to the side walls of the baby seat compartment and utilize split ring clips to restrain the transverse displacement of the gate secured about a hinge rod. These split rings can become undone and can cause the gate to become detached. Also, these rings have burrs which can cause injury to a child's hand when sitting in the baby seat compartment, as above described. Furthermore, latches have been secured to the opposed side walls of the baby seat compartment, and extend inwardly thereof to retain the gate upright. This has also proven hazardous and causes malfunction of the gate when these latches become slightly bent, as they will no longer permit the gate to be engaged. These latches can also prevent the lading-carrying basket from being fully hinged up in the storage position, thereby risking the possibility of the lading-carrying basket that can accidently fall and injure a person. These inner latches are formed of bent metal rods with hook ends which may have burrs, and these are exposed internally of the baby seat compartment. Therefore, they can damage all sorts of articles, and especially articles of clothing placed in the baby seat compartment. A still further disadvantage of the prior art baby seat compartments with hinged gates is that they require frequent repair and maintenance.